The present invention relates generally to beds in truck cabs, and more particularly to beds that bridge separated front seats of a truck cab.
Truck drivers frequently wait long hours in their trucks for the truck to be loaded or unloaded. For trucks with back bench seats, sleeping quarters or compartments with beds or cots, the driver can comfortably rest while waiting for the loading/unloading of the truck. An example of such a bed is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,631 issued to Bretz.
In smaller truck cabs that do not have a back seat or sleeping compartment, however, the driver has no choice but to stay in the front driver""s seat or front passenger seat if the driver desires to wait in his truck. Frequently, the passenger and driver seats in a truck are split bucket-type seats instead of a single bench seat. These split seats are typically separated by a gap to accommodate a gear shift. With this configuration, a driver has no choice but to remain in the seated position. However, it is difficult to rest or sleep in this position. In addition, the seated position may require the driver to maintain his limbs in positions which cause stiffness or aching. The driver cannot recline on the split front seats because it is difficult and uncomfortable for a person to recline by balancing over the two seats.
One solution is to provide a hammock in the front seat, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,521 issued to Light. This system however, requires relatively expensive permanent and complicated hardware to hang the hammock from the truck cab frame.
Another known solution is to simply lie a board of wood, such as a piece of plywood, over the two front seats for the driver to recline upon. This bed-board, however, is large, rigid, and cumbersome. Therefore, it is difficult to place the bed-board into the truck cab and onto the front seats of the truck cab. The bed-board also is not adaptable from truck cab to truck cab of different sizes. For instance, the bed-board may be too wide to fit onto some truck cabs due to the space provided between the seat backs and the dash board or steering wheel. The board may also be too wide to avoid the gear shift, which requires some sort of notch cut in the bed-board; so the bed-board fits around the gear shift. The bed board also cannot be collapsed for easy storage and transport. Such concerns are significant, particularly in the case of day cabs. A day cab driver may not be assigned to the same truck the following day. Further, the bed-board is a personal solution thereby compounding the lack of versatility issue.
In addition, it is convenient for the drivers to simply keep the bed-board in the truck cabs instead of carrying the bed-board out of the truck cab in their off hours. If trucks are switched to different drivers or brought to maintenance personnel for upkeep, the bed-boards are frequently discarded as trash. Presumably, the purpose of the simple wood bed-board is not immediately apparent to the maintenance personnel.
Thus, the main object of the present invention is to provide an improved bed for split adjacent seats in a vehicle that provides adequate comfort for rest or stretching out ones limbs.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved bed for split adjacent seats in a vehicle that is adjustable to fit many different sizes of seats and vehicles.
Yet another of the present invention is to provide an improved bed for split seats in a vehicle that is collapsible for easy storage and transport.
In one aspect of the present invention, the problems mentioned above are solved by a bed for a vehicle with two adjacent seats separated from each other so that a gap is defined therebetween. The bed has a body that includes a first end disposed on one seat and a second end disposed on the other seat. The bed bridges the gap between the seats, and the width of the body is adjustable for fitting on the seats.
In another aspect of the present invention, the bed has a body with a plurality of rods and a flexible platform defining pockets for receiving the rods and for maintaining the rods in a generally parallel relation to each other. With this structure, the flexible platform provides a flexible width for fitting the bed on the seats and avoiding any gear shift that may be present between the seats of the truck cab.
This flexibility is accomplished by providing each rod with a wide range of lateral or transverse positions relative to an adjacent rod. When the flexible platform is made of a fabric that is folded in two layers to define the pockets for receiving the rods, the flexible platform can be folded, rolled or otherwise moved to form any outer width for the body or bed. This allows for instantaneous adjustment of the bed""s width to fit any seat as well as the ability to be compacted for easy storage and transport. A foam pad can also be placed between the two layers and above the rods to provide comfort to the user.